Esther manning



(No llodel.)

B. MANNING. DRESS SKIRT LIFTER.

IN [/5 N TOR WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ESTHER MANNING, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

' DRESS-SKIRT LIFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 586,446, dated July 13,1897.

Application filed November 10,1896. Serial No. 611,631. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, ESTHER MANNING, of New York city, in the county andState of New York,have invented a new and Improved Dress-Skirt Lifter,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to devices for lifting the lower portion of adress-skirt to clear it from the ground. Devices of this character haveheretofore been made, but they have been so connected to a skirt thatonly a portion, say the rear portion thereof, could be elevated orlifted.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and comparativelyinexpensive device by means of which all portions of the skirt may belifted.

I will describe a skirt-lifter embodying my invention and then point outthe novelfeatures in the appended claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective elevation of a skirt,

showing the skirt-lifting device embodying my invention as attachedthereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a skirt on the line 2 2 of Fig.3, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a dress-skirt to which theskirt-lifter is attached. This skirt-lifter comprises tapes or ribbons 23, rove through rings 4 5, secured to the inner side of the skirt and,respectively, at opposite sides of the placket. In practice the rings 4and 5 will be arranged about one and one-half inches below thewaistband. From the rings a and 5 tapes or ribbons are carried outthrough the placket and are designed to be tied at the outer side of theskirt, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

To the inner ends of the tapes or ribbons 2 and 3 rings 6 are attached,and from these rings 6 a number of tapes 7 extend. In practice thenumber of tapes employed on a dress will equal the number of breadths ina skirt. I have here shown four tapes 7 extended from each ring 6, thusindicating that there are eight breadths in this particular skirt.

The lower end of each tape is provided with a device for fastening it tothe skirt material. I have here shown rings 8 for this purpose.

In attaching the device to a skirt a ring 8 will be attached to thedress material at each seam indicating the breadths. In general practicethe rings 8, attached to the front seams, will be a greater distanceabove the binding of the skirt than will be the other rings thereon.Therefore when the several tapes are drawn up the rear portion of theskirt may be drawn up somewhat higher than the front portion.

It is obvious that by drawing upon the tapes or ribbons 2 3 the severaltapes 7 will be simultaneously drawn upward, and therefore the entireskirt or the lowerportion thereof will be at once drawn up. After theskirt shall have been sufficiently raised the tapes or ribbons 2 and 3may be tied in a suitable knot, as indicated at 9.

It will be seen that it will be quite unnecessary to carry the tapes orribbons around the waist of the wearer, although this may be done, ifdesired.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- The combination with a dress-skirt having a waistbandand a placket, of rings secured to the opposite sides of the placket andbelow the waistband, tapes extended through the rings and through theplacket so that the outer ends may be tied over the placket, a ring onthe inner end of each tape, tapes attached to said rings, and rings onthe lower ends of said tapes attached to the seams of theskirt-breadths, there being a suflicient number of the last-named tapessuspended from the first-named tapes to engage with the severalbreadth-seams of the skirt, the several depending tapes being ofsubstantially equal length, but the connections at the front portion ofthe skirt being at a greater distance above the skirt-binding or loweredge than those at the rear, substantially as specified.

ESTHER MANNING.

Witnesses:

J NO. M. BITTER, C. R. FERGUSON.

